Curiosity And The Cat
by Skylar Vega
Summary: Natalia makes a new friend. So does Horatio.


Curiosity And The Cat  
By Skylar

Natalia wasn't at all surprised when she stepped out of the elevator and all eyes landed on her.

She merely took a deep breath and tried to avoid rolling her eyes as she walked into the lab, and though a few people merely looked in her direction and kept on walking, others continued to stare at her as if they'd never seen a woman holding a cat before.

She adjusted its weight in her arms, struggling as the thing flailed about, scared for its life. For the last half hour she'd been fighting with the animal, who'd done nothing but cry and wail in her car, at one point nearly causing her to crash into upcoming traffic by freaking out in her lap. It did manage to calm down a little bit as she parked, but for the most part the cat was still tense and edgy.

And people kept staring.

"It's a cat," she told one of them as she walked by the front desk. "Get over it."

The guy merely rolled his eyes and kept on going.

She sighed again, feeling the beginnings of a headache. The cat looked around, spooked, and crying. For a moment she thought of leaving it outside for a good Samaritan to find, but at the thought she felt horribly guilty. And guilt had never done her good. Guilt was the reason why she spent 20 dollars a month on a supposedly starving child in Africa even though she knew the program was most likely a scam. Guilt was the weapon her neighbor used when trying to convince her to let him use one of her parking spaces because his poor, misunderstood teenager needed a place to park his car. Guilt was one of the many reasons why she always went back to Nick.

And guilt was, once more, making her put her own feelings and responsibilities aside, and all for a stupid, dirty, small orange cat.

She felt her frustration increase as she saw Dan Cooper approaching, a goofy grin on his face. She tried to duck into the nearest room, but he cornered her quickly.

"Aw, look at the kitty," he said with all the enthusiasm of a five year old girl, reached over to pet the cat but the thing let out a loud hiss and scratched his fingers. Cooper yelped and jumped back, giving Natalia a look of pure shock. "What the Christ?!"

"Careful," Natalia said monotonously, "he scratches."

"Really?" Cooper exclaimed sarcastically, rubbing his fingers. "Thanks for the warning."

"You're welcome," she said bitterly and walked away.

_God, why were people stupid?_ she thought. And who pets a wild cat? Only someone as stupid as Cooper manages to get himself mangled by such a tiny creature.

She took a deep breath and tried to collect herself. Cooper wasn't stupid. He was just... well, he _was_ kinda stupid but for the most part he was just too nice and gullible. And she was having a terribly bad morning. She needed coffee. Coffee and possibly a huge stack of papers so she could calm herself down and take her mind off the evil creature in her arms. Coffee sounded good. Work sounded even better.

She quickened her step, still ignoring the curious glances everyone threw at her. She was almost home safe, and then Horatio suddenly stood in front of her with his hands on his hips.

Natalia stopped, looking guilty and feeling like a student busted by her teacher. She looked at Horatio briefly but there was no way to tell what he was thinking from the stoic look on his face. For the most part he looked curious. However, as it was nearly impossible to read Horatio, it wasn't necessarily a calming sight.

"It's a cat," she informed him, gulping nervously.

"I see," Horatio said with a hint of amusement, looking at the creature in her arms.

"It was on my driveway this morning, I nearly ran over it," she sighed, letting her frustration bubble to the surface. "I wanted to take it to the shelter, but that would've made me late for work, or later than I am, and I don't know what—"

"You're scratched," Horatio interrupted her.

"What?" Natalia stopped, a bit taken aback by his observation. She looked at her arms and indeed there were a series of red scratches on her skin, a few tiny bubbles of blood percolating to the surface. "It's nothing," she said, dismissing his worry but he reached over and ran his hand along the scratches on her arm.

Her first instinct was to pull away. Years of marriage to Nick had developed in her a slight paranoia when it came to being touched. It still made her jumpy every time someone touched her without her consent or a warning. It was irrational and maybe even a little crazy, but she couldn't stop her mind from taking her back to those years every time someone, anyone, unexpectedly put their hands on her, regardless of their intentions. It didn't always lead to good things. It very rarely did. Since Nick she found herself adopting a three feet safety zone around her - no one allowed without her permission. And with one move Horatio had violated all her rules.

But she didn't pull away, maybe because he was her boss and she wanted to stay on his good graces, maybe because they were in the middle of the lab and she didn't wanna cause a scene or worse, make things awkward for her own screwed up reasons.

Or maybe because there wasn't any malice in his touch. Maybe because his fingers were soft, a contradiction to his rough exterior. She just stood there feeling self-aware and wondering how to react or what to say as his fingers gently grazed her skin.

And though Horatio felt her slight hesitation still he didn't pull back until he was done with his examination, and when he was he put his hands on his hips and looked at her, and he could tell she wasn't with him anymore. But then she looked at him, back from wherever her mind had gone to. It didn't take Horatio long to put two and two together and figure out why her muscles had been tense the whole time.

"Why don't you ask Alexx to take a look at that?"

Natalia looked at him, and for the first time that morning she found herself smiling. "It's really nothing, Horatio, I've been scratched by cats before."

Horatio looked down at the kitten. "Yes, however, he doesn't look like he's been keeping his shots up to date, does he?"

"Well, I'm always hearing that I need to be more courageous when I interrogate suspects," Natalia replied good naturedly. "Little case of rabies and who knows, I might break Tripp's confession record."

Horatio smiled. She honestly didn't know when was the last time she saw him smile. She didn't know if she'd ever even seen him smile. It made him look younger, carefree, and she briefly wondered why he didn't smile more often. He looked like a completely different man than the one she saw brooding through the hallways every day and Natalia found herself wondering for the first time about his personal life, his past, his childhood, his family. As strong as Horatio was, she wondered if there was a part of him that was constantly teetering on the brink of darkness.

She also wondered why no one around here seemed to care. She wondered why no one seemed to want to do anything about it. He went home alone every night and spent most of his time as so, and yet people around the lab had come to accept that as normalcy. She didn't know why, but standing there she got the feeling she was truly looking at Horatio for the first time.

"I, uh," she started, looking down at the cat. "I don't know what to do with... this."

Horatio looked a the kitten and continued to smile. "Tell ya what, leave the little guy in my office, and we'll take care of him after work."

Natalia shook her head. "Oh, it--I don't wanna bother you," she said quickly.

"It's no problem."

"Really, Horatio, he's not even my cat," she said.

"Well," he said, looking at her, "he's somebody's cat."

Natalia smiled and looked down. "Good point."

Horatio gently reached over and grabbed the kitten, and the animal tried to get away quickly but Horatio snuggled it to his chest and scratched the side of his face. The kitten quickly responded to the attention with a long purr.

Natalia raised her eyebrows, impressed. "Wow, you obviously have the good touch."

He looked at her with an expression she couldn't decipher and for some reason she felt the pink rushing to her cheeks and she looked down feeling a little embarrassed. Not that she'd said anything embarrassing or even out of place, but still she felt a little something that made her want to recoil, despite his encouraging smile.

So she looked around, her eyes landing on the cat before she looked away again. "I'll, uh--I'll just get to work."

"Do that," Horatio said. She disappeared down the hall, quickly yet hesitantly, and he watched her.

* * *

She spent the rest of the day too immersed in paperwork, evidence, fingerprints, and DNA samples to think about the damn cat, and Horatio seemed too immersed in paperwork to come out of his office, aiding to her forgetfulness. Looking forward to an evening with a good book and a glass of wine, her mind must've put aside all thoughts of the damn creature and she was getting ready to go home.

Until Cooper found her in the locker room and showing her his bandaged fingers he reproachingly asked, "Where's your cat?"

And so she found herself standing outside of Horatio's office and knocking on his door, after spending 15 minutes arguing with Cooper about a possible visit to the emergency room because he thought he might be experiencing rabies symptoms, regardless of the fact that the cat never bit him. Natalia finally got rid of him by mentioning an imaginary online chat about Star Trek (or Star Wars -- honestly she couldn't tell the difference between the two if she tried) and he quickly ran out of the lab.

"Come on in."

She did so carefully. She'd never spent more than 30 seconds in Horatio's office, mainly because Horatio never spent any time there himself. For the most part he preferred to go on rides or hang out at the lab, understandably so. Natalia had never been one for office work, either. Being incarcerated by four walls always made her feel stifled.

She had no time to look around and scrutinize his decor, had to first get over the shock of seeing the cat on Horatio's desk, sitting there content as Horatio sorted out a few files.

"Is he letting you pet him?" she asked in wonderment.

Horatio looked at the cat and half smiled. "You'd be surprised what a good plate of food does for a cat's disposition."

"Wow," Natalia said, and at that moment the kitten looked up at her, jumped off the desk and walked over. He meowed loudly and rubbed the side of his face against her legs.

"Aw," she said, crouching down and stroking the top of his head. He was scrawny and a bit smelly, but definitely looked better than when she found him that morning, wailing in her bushes and looking around, scared.

"He likes you," Horatio noted, sitting back and watching the scene play with an amused smile.

"He better," Natalia said, "after using me as a scratching post, it's the least he could do."

Horatio stood up and walked over, resting his back against the front side of his desk. "Animals are good at recognizing the person who saved them."

Natalia looked up at him and chuckled. "I barely threw him in the car and drove him here, I don't know how big a savior that makes me."

"Judging by his girth, he may not have survived another night," Horatio noted.

"We keep saying 'he'," Natalia said. "What if he's a she?"

"He's a he," Horatio said, coming over and crouching in front of her. He picked up the kitten, and flipped him upside down, much to the animal's annoyance.

"Ah, there it is," she said, furrowing her eyebrows at the part of the animal that made him very much a he.

Horatio put him on the floor again and the kitten meowed, and it sounded so pathetic Natalia's heart nearly broke in two. He was tiny, and his ribs were showing and his orange fur was sticking in all kinds of directions, it made him look perpetually spooked. As annoying as the animal had been that morning she found she didn't like the idea of him being out there all alone, crying for his mother and starving to death, and she wondered if there was some sort of cosmical reason why he decided to hide in her bushes and not the neighbor's.

Looking at the kitten she made a hesitant decision. "You know, I think I'm gonna keep him."

Horatio smiled. "I think that's a good idea."

Natalia pet the kitten again, and he purred happily, pushing his head into her fingers. She smiled at it, and added hesitantly, "It's not easy, being alone."

Horatio nodded, letting her know without using words that he understood that, whether she was talking about the cat or herself or both. He knew all too well. Going on unsuccessful dates once or twice a year barely provided him with the company and intimacy he was beginning to crave, and though the memories of Marisol granted him a great amount of comfort, he found it just wasn't enough. He missed his wife and still loved her, but going to bed alone, night after night, having no one to talk to... it was beginning to get exponentially heavy, both physically and emotionally.

He didn't know why he found himself sharing the thought with Natalia, but considering her last statement he found they had something very much in common. "Maybe I should join the kitty rescue squad, too."

"A cat?" Natalia looked at him and laughed. "Horatio, you are _not_ a cat person."

He looked at her. "No?"

"Not at all," she said with much certainty, smiling brightly. "You're loyal, dependable, protective, a good friend... you're a dog person, Horatio."

Horatio concentrated on the kitten, which was now nestled by Natalia's shoe. He usually heard those types of adjectives, coming off the mouths of grateful citizens who knew nothing about him except he had a badge and carried a gun, and in some instances, that was enough to make him a hero. But he rarely got to hear it from the people around him, the people who knew him every day and were close, the people who were witness to his faults, saw his mistakes. He sensed raw honesty in Natalia's voice and he wondered if she would feel the same way if she knew, he wasn't as honorable, as great, as she thought.

"Then again, no matter what life throws at you, you always seem to land on your feet," she added.

He looked at her briefly, shied at her smile and looked down again. "Not always gracefully."

Natalia looked at him a while longer, wondering why Horatio was so guarded and cryptic. He was an enigma to her. While the others were fairly sure they knew the real Horatio she doubted it, sometimes, because Horatio seemed like a man of secrets and she was sure the others, despite their years of camaraderie, had yet to crack his hard shell.

She wondered how much strength it would take, how much determination and patience. She wondered if he was really so guarded as he seemed, or was merely waiting for the right person.

He looked at her again, his hesitation gone and suddenly he smiled confidently. "What are you going to name him?"

Natalia looked at the orange cat and pondered the question for a second, her lips pursed to the side. "Blue," she declared after a while.

Horatio chuckled. "Blue. I like that."

Blue meowed happily between their feet and Natalia picked him up. She stood up quickly and her legs creaked. "I better go before the pet shop closes."

Horatio smiled and stood up after her. "Get him one of those feather toys, they like those."

Natalia chuckled. "Will do." She reached the door and stopped, and hesitantly turned around. He stood there with his hands on his hips and she said with trepidation, "There's a shelter near my house, when you're ready to get that dog--"

"You'll be the first one to know," he said with a smile.

She smiled as well, feeling it sting her cheeks. "Night, Horatio."

"Ma'am," Horatio said warmly, and returned to his desk after watching her go.

The End  
4/09/07


End file.
